-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Normally Germany and France are close partners at the heart of Europe -- but U.S. diplomatic cables suggest a battle royal between the two allies over satellite technology , with the German space and intelligence agencies accusing the French of bad faith and looking to the United States as a future partner to develop next-generation satellites .

At the heart of the rivalry is HiRos -- a High Resolution Optical System -- that would potentially be a leap forward in satellite surveillance . A flurry of cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten shows German officials lobbying for a `` strategic US/German partnership '' in 2009 to develop the system , amid French attempts to kill it .

Some thirty pages of cables show the political maneuvering and enticing technological potential of HiRos , as well as the determination of the German space agency -LRB- DLR -RRB- to get it deployed by 2013 . The cables also shows the DLR 's desperation to end Germany 's dependence on `` foreign sources of imagery . ''

German officials were clearly sensitive about the dual intelligence and commercial use of the program . In February 2009 , U.S. diplomats were told that `` to minimize possible political backlash from developing HiRos as an intelligence satellite , the program will be managed by a civil agency . '' But a later cable -- from September 2009 -- talks about HiRos ' `` primary customer '' as the German intelligence service .

One cable from February 2009 reveals efforts by German officials to steer development work on HiRos away from a Franco-German consortium toward a German company `` in an effort to minimize French mischief . '' Subsequently , a senior official at the German space agency said Germany `` had been pushed into a corner by the French and left little choice but to go it alone within the EU . '' The alliance with the United States , explained another official , would help prevent a French monopoly of the lucrative market for electro-optical imagery . But he was concerned by the `` fierce and persistent '' French lobbying to halt HiRos .

In lobbying the U.S. embassy in Berlin , German officials said HiRos would enable Germany to be `` a better partner ... by bringing more unique value to the table . ''

A senior German official suggested that three German and three U.S. satellites could be deployed , with the imagery being shared . At the same time , access to U.S. imagery of China , North Korea , Iran and the Haqqani Network -LRB- a terrorist group based on the Afghan/Pakistan border -RRB- would help fill German collection gaps .

U.S. diplomats were enthusiastic about HiRos -- saying the German satellite program `` has yielded sophisticated and reliable satellite systems that provide an extraordinary amount of product for their investment . '' They waxed lyrical about HiRos ' `` daily revisit capability for any spot on the Earth 's surface , '' and its projected ability to provide detailed 3D images . German officials also promised that HiRos would be able to process `` near real-time '' or in `` milliseconds '' data that currently takes several hours to process .

HiRos remains in the project phase , despite the intense lobbying by German space agency and intelligence officials -- and optimistic noises in 2009 that they were ready to move beyond the design phase and start `` bending metal . '' CNN has reached out to the German space agency for further comment on the status and funding of HiRos .

Neither the U.S. State Department nor the French Foreign Ministry would comment on the leaked cables , citing policy not to discuss classified information .

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Cables show tensions between France and Germany

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Cables were obtained by WikiLeaks and published by a Norwegian newspaper

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Cables indicate Germans wanted U.S. partnership for satellite project